The application relates to a gas generator for a vehicle passenger protection device and a process for removing solids and liquid burned residue in a gas stream.
During burning off a gas generating charge of a gas generator usually solids and/or liquid burned-off residues are generated which are contained in the gas stream. In order to prevent an emission of these solids and liquid burned-off residue into the surrounding, and therefore for instance into an airbag, a filtering of the gas stream with wire mesh filters, expanded metal filters, sintered metal filters or a combination of said filtering techniques is known. An enlarged surface of the filter thereby enables good heat absorption and therefore cooling of the gas stream and offers the possibility of filtering the burned-off residues. The use of filters, however, can lead to an increased weight, an increased installation space, non-defined flow rates and an increased production cost.
A gas generator is known from EP 0 808 258 B1 (incorporated by reference herein) in which the gas stream produced by a gas generating charge is guided from a combustion chamber into an expansion chamber which is formed by a deposition chamber and a filter chamber.
An object of at least one disclosed embodiment is to provide a gas generator and a process for removing solids and liquid burned-off residues in a gas stream which effectively deposit solids and liquid burned-off residues from the gas stream of a gas generator without the requirement of using filters.